Quote:
Originally Posted by spence
Democrats and Republicans flipping parties (exactly as zimmy asserted) had less to do with racism
zimmy EXACTLY asserted that it was a racist switch: he said "By the way, democrat racism? That is your party now. I'm sure you are aware they changed parties, which is why the democrats don't win the south."
And the racist Democrat officeholders on the federal, state, and local levels, except for a very few, did not switch parties.
Nixon's Southern Strategy was not a racist strategy. He ran as an anti-racist. He basically helped to desegregate the South's schools.
and more to do with the expansion of Federal power. Republicans in the northern states wanted to invest and expand into the west. Democrats in the southern states opposed it just as they feared the erosion of states rights over slavery.
The flip happened a few decades later as some Democrats started pushing for Government expansion to attract voters as the western states became more populated. Naturally this created opposition up until the New Deal when the reverse in polarity was complete.
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I'm not following your timeline, but yes, there was a flip by the VOTERS, not by the parties. Many of the younger voters in the South by then had already begun to join the rest of the country in disavowing racism and they joined the existing older voters who were not racist to bring about the flip. So race did have an affect on the switch, but the opposite effect than we are led to believe by Democrat spinners. And the South, as it became more Republican, became less racist.
And yes, there was a strong states rights sentiment in the South. And that was not just about race, and less about it by the time of the "switch." As long as the South remained majority racist, that was enough reason to continue to vote for the racist Democrat politicians who also claimed to be states rights advocates (even though they mostly voted with Progressive big government Democrat policies at the national level). The Republicans in the South were always the anti-slavery, anti-racist, and less government party. As sentiments changed, due mostly to Republican efforts nationally, the Southern population, especially the younger segment, the overwhelming racist character of the South changed, but the desire not to be ruled by the federal government remained. So the natural party left for the majority of Southern voters would be the one which was not racist and which espoused less federal power and the maintenance of state and local power.